Athens Bible School first baseman Matthew Usery reaches his left foot back towards first base after fielding a ground ball as Hackleburg's Noah McCarley tries to beat the tag.

One local team advanced to the quarterfinals of the state baseball playoffs for the first time while another is makings its third appearance in the past five years.

For the first-time in program history, Elkmont will hosts Colbert Heights in a third-round playoff series, beginning at 4 p.m. Friday. Ardmore is also returning to its home field for the quarterfinals and will host Guntersville in Class 5A.

Elkmont dropped its opener 6-4 last week at Pleasant Valley, but bounced back with a 5-3 win in the second game to forced a rubber match Saturday. In that deciding third game, Elkmont jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings and led by 11 entering the fifth.

Brian Rios led the Red Devils with three hits and Elkmont was able to finish off Pleasant Valley with a 12-0 victory in five innings.

After narrowly losing to Boaz 6-5 in its first game Friday, Ardmore won 18-3 in the second game to force a series-decider in Class 5A Saturday. In the 18-3 victory, Patrick Music tripled, hit three singles and had four RBIs to lead the Tigers.

On Saturday, Ardmore hit three home runs to beat Boaz 8-3 and advance to third round. Music, Jacob Reed and Tanner Eaves all hit homers to help the Tigers build a 7-2 lead entering the fifth.

Ardmore’s third-round series with Guntersville begins at 5 p.m. Friday.

ABS on to quarterfinals

Athens Bible made quick work of Hackleburg Friday afternoon in their Class 1A second round series. After grinding out a 2-1 win in the first game, the Trojans’ bats got hot in the second game as ABS won 12-5.

Jacob Shackleford, Dyson Barksdale, Hayden Nix, Kenneth Adams and Mitchell Etheridge all had two hits for ABS in the 12-5 victory. Shackleford drove in a pair of runs while Adams and Matthew Usery each scored two runs. Etheridge struck out two while giving up seven hits in 5 innings. Usery pitched the final two innings for ABS.

Athens Bible will host South Lamar Wednesday with a double-header beginning at 1 p.m. If a third-game is needed, it will be played at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.